yO, I'm new, and my K64 is dead...

Hey all, I'm the proud owner of a 1992 Subaru Sambar Dias II van with supercharger (ECVT).. or at least I was until I may have killed the engine only 5 months after i bought her/my first car.

I'm from Vancouver, and I just drove up to Kelowna last weekend, played in the snow up there and overheated something on my way home, and well, the shop says that cylinder #2 has lost compression. Engine has about 96000kms and had an oil change last week... Only the second long-distance trip i was allowed apparently (Drove to the caribou in August right after i got the van, had to perform my own air intake hose replacement on the road..)

Of course that means a variety of options are available to me, none of which are particularily cheap.. so I need to come up with the best option.

The loftiest idea is to convert my Sambar to an Electric Vehicle (complete with solar panels in my sunroofs!).. Could be a good idea, a fun project, but alas I didn't think this situation would come up so soon in my life as a Sambar owner.

Alternately is of course the simple choice of throwing any possible used/overhauled engine (possibly from Japan) into the trunk, and I'm certainly open to changing to a 5 speed... The cvt is a bit wierd overall, not a totally comfortable drive, maybe it's just mine but it's laggy and doesn't deal well at the smallest opening of the (electronic) clutch in crawling traffic.

Or maybe i could modify the body and throw a big block 350 in the back. Anyone got blueprints for that mod? Seriously though, there could be some option for a different, larger motor... gotta be mighty creative.

Anyways, thought i might as well become a member and spew my worries to some other knowlegeable people. Any comments or suggestions (or spare engines ) are welcome.

Thanks,
Adrien [earl]

 

Hi Earl, I wish I could help you out with an electric conversion cause that would be very cool!

I could try to source a drivetrain for your van if you would like. We have a Vancouver bound container shipping in the next couple of weeks.

Happy Holidays!

Derek Whitt
Bonsai Motors
Ph#250-202-4000

 

I would try to do more investigation on what has caused #2 cylinder to lose all compression. If it's simply a blown head gasket, that is a relatively easy repair, compared to having to do valves, replace a piston, or rebuild the engine itself.

 

yO,

well it's kind of a time/cost issue.. in order to discover that it's just the gasket it involves taking the engine out and apart, would it not? What if they then find that the head is cracked and i'm screwed... I dunno, it sure could just be the gasket... Highway driving is not what these are built for... Especially through mountainous BC.

My fuel economy was generally about 250km per tank (30L) which i guess is ok, never really owned a car before. It cost me $18 in fuel to go up the Coquihalla (@60km/h sometimes heh) from Hope-Merrit.

 

I agree with Wolfman...there are some relatively cheap problems that could lead you to lose compression in the cylinder. The aluminum heads are durable, and don't tend to crack...warp maybe, but rarely develop major damage. I overhauled my Suzuki for $600, including a .020" head shave.
Pull off the head and check.

I helped a fellow a few years back by welding his motor mounts on an electric van conversion (Subaru). It was quiet and quick!

 

Is there any way with the EFI Supercharged KV4, perhaps a custom exhaust, that would result in more power? I understand that i'm talking about a .6L engine..

My major overheating issue was more related to the exhaust... Driving at 100km/h on top of the snow on Manning Park hiway, the engine stopped, I pulled over and checked and a flexible metal hose in the exhaust area left of the block was glowing bright red! needless to say i let her rest. However my Temp guage never read above half at the time, i imagine this refers to the block temp..

-a[e]

 

Typical supercharger hop ups are underdrive pulleys (for more boost), aftermarket exhaust and headers, and an intercooler (if it doesn't have one).

I had a small 160HP toyota Corolla I used to street race with years ago, and came across a Subaru mini or two that kept pace with me.

There's no replacement for displacement..thats something the import crowd hates to accept, but it's true. But the power to weight ratio is an advantage in Kei class vehicles.

 

OK Don - you've got my eyes bugging out of my head with that comment!! Are you speaking in general terms, or of the Subaru truck??? If there are exhaust, etc. available for these, please point the way!!

BLES

 

These are general observations from the cars that are circulating thru the shop where I work, but can be applied to all vehicles.
Kei vans are picking up momentum in the performance scene probably due to the inherent advantages of Kei class cars.. low fuel consumption.
Fuel is over $5/gal, and probably more in the mainland, so we're seeing a boost in Kei parts. Usually, the Kei vans share the same engines as the trucks, so interchangability is there.
Give me the engine #'s you are running, and I'll look around. There are plenty of used parts places popping up, and magazines dedicated to Kei performance (but all in Japanese).

I used to have a video of a Suzuki Cappachino (that has a twin cam version of the engine in my Carry), and it was running 12's in the quarter. A company sponsered Nissan GTR wouldn't even race the guy.
(This was a local event my friend videotaped).

 

I recommend this link for used parts...many Kei performance parts roll thru here...just have to keep an eye on it.

Go thru Babel Fish translater first...

http://babel.altavista.com/


Then insert this link to translate the page (and any you navigate to).. just pick Japanese to English translation. Some are horrible, like calling a Suzuki a "Sea Bass", and a Nissan Silvia a "Still Beer", but you get the idea. Most of these performance parts are for Wagon R's (the most popular), but Subaru parts cycle thru too.

http://db.datanext.co.jp/4DCGI/Web_Parts_List?PG_A=3

 

From what I've seen in pictures, the valve cover, and hence the head stares straight out at you, once you've opened the access cover. If this is correct, pulling the head would be a very easy task to undertake, since you're about as close to a "bench" type of environment as possible with the layout, while still having the block in the vehicle. If your problem does end up being a burned piston, then you have that much less weight to deal with when pulling the rest of the engine out. Since you've since mentioned that the exhaust pipe was glowing red, it's possible that you may have burned an exhaust valve. That still keeps you in line with head work only, which would still be much better than scrapping the entire engine.

As for high speed running, I can only guess that there was a hidden issue waiting to show itself with your truck. The first right hand turn off of my road is a 60 mph county road. While I keep my truck to a self imposed 55 mph max speed limit (I use a GPS for a speedometer), pretty much everywhere I go where I live, puts me up to those speeds, and holding them for a while. I've had no ill effects as of yet from running my truck regularly near its upper operational limits. Colin has logged plenty of highway time in his Sambar as well, and he's alot harder on his truck, than I am on mine.

 

Whether there was a hidden issue or not, it's true that i had just been driving it at 90-100 give or take a few hills at 60-70km/h for about 4h straight through the mountains before i had major problems... And had travelled a different highway 2 days before, driving for about 6h.. These trucks have kind of a self-imposed sleep system, in that the gastank is so small that if you're driving at these speeds you go through a tank in an hour or 2, thus having to stop and give them a nap.

I really don't want to have to say goodbye to this van just because it's going to cost me huge every time I try to take it out of the city.. Other cars just depress me in their hugeness.

 

My recommendation would be to get the engine issue sorted out, and keep driving it. I really don't think that your driving environment was the cause of your failure. I have spent entire days buzzing around the DFW metromess on the highways in mine, without killing my engine, and Daihatsu has the lowest redline of the group (5800 rpm according to Daihatsu Help). Since your Sambar is a four cylinder, you can buy any cheap sunpro tach and install it. I'd recommend doing so, once you get it running, and then find out what the redline is if possible. Set the marker on the tach at just under your redline, and you should be able to easily run the vehicle anywhere you need, and keep it below it's maximum limits.

 

I mentioned things about the Tacho in the CVT thread... Saying that the Subarus are lucky enough to come equipped with tachs (7/8 being the redline).. I never went above 6 but i did drive at 5500 for hours...

 

Then you weren't anything near that engine's operational limits.

 

do you have any pics of the van? i'm interested in getting a sambar van. can i be so bold as to ask how much you paid for the supercharger version? how many clicks did it have when you got it?

a bit off topic i know... sorry just curious